I have some carbon composition resistors that I acquired a while back (half a century ago when they were new).
Some look shiny as if covered in a varnish. I find those to tend to be fairly close to their original values. Certainly they are within their original specification (typically 10% signified by a silver band after the multiplier). Others have a dull finish. Those tend to be higher than their original value - sometimes by a huge amount. Perhaps four or five times their original value. I recommend checking the values. If they are still "in spec" after all this time, they will probably stay in spec if you don't abuse them. Back then we paid a huge penalty if we wanted a resistor within 5% or (gasp!) 1% of the stated value. They were used only in a very few critical places. Nowadays we routinely expect 1% tolerance from ordinary off-the-shelf cheap resistors. Most circuits still don't need that accuracy. It just happens that with modern computer-controlled manufacturing processes it's as cheap to make a 1% resistor as it is a 10% resistor. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
